EL SEGUNDO, CA — With Jonathan Quick being a finalist for the 2011-12 Vezina Trophy, and the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the most valuable player in last season’s playoffs, leading the Los Angeles Kings to the first Stanley Cup Championship in the 45-year history of the franchise, the Kings have their first truly elite goaltender since Rogie Vachon starred for them from 1971-72 through 1977-78.

But even with Quick firmly established as the Kings’ top netminder, a National Hockey League team can never have enough goaltending. After all, no netminder can play all 82 regular season games, and then there are injuries to consider.

“It was a little bit overwhelming for the young guy early on, going up against some real high level shooters,” said goaltending coach Bill Ranford last July. “I thought he handled himself very well.”

“I kind of broke it down for him when he’s going up against the forwards,” added Ranford. “You’ve got [Tyler] Toffoli, who was the top scorer in the Ontario League. You’ve got [Jordan] Weal, who was in the top five in the Western Hockey League the last two years. [Linden] Vey was the top scorer in the Western Hockey League this year. Then you’ve got a guy like [Brandon] Kozun, who was a top scorer two years ago, and finished second the previous year [in the WHL], and [just finished his rookie season] in the American Hockey League. It’s not Read more of this post

Even goaltender Mario Lessard only had one outstanding season with the Kings in 1980-81. He even played in the 1981 National Hockey League All-Star Game that year, along with the Kings’ “Triple Crown Line,” which featured Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor.

Kelly Hrudey backstopped the Kings during the Gretzky Era, and helped lead the Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1992-93. But that team won by outscoring its opponents, not because of its defense and goaltending. Read more of this post

EL SEGUNDO, CA — With Jonathan Quick having established himself as a legitimate number one goaltender in the National Hockey League, and with Jonathan Bernier performing admirably in the backup role in his rookie year this past season, the Los Angeles Kings may have a one-two punch in goal that they have never had before.

Although Rogie Vachon is still the best goaltender in the history of the franchise, and Gary Edwards, the backup netminder during all but one of Vachon’s seasons with the Kings, was no slouch, the Kings’ current netminders have the potential to surpass the tandem of Vachon and Edwards.

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